Palestinians rebuild
war-shattered village
By WILLIAM DRUMMOND
[c] 1974, The Los Angeles Times
Wadi Fuqin, occupied Jordan — "My village had had a hard time,"
said Sudhieh Mustafa, 65, stooping over a basket of freshly plucked
radishes and bell peppers.
She and about 600 other inhabitants of Wadi Fuqin have lived in a
cross fire in the Middle East conflict since 1948.
Their village, about eight miles west of Bethlehem, was situated in
Jordan almost exactly astride the Israel-Jordan border that existed from
1948 to 1967 when the six-day war ended Arab control on the west
bank of the Jordan River.
Because they are no longer on the firing line, Sidhieh and the other
Palestinian Arabs who live in Wadi Fuqin have been able to leave the
grim surroundings of a refugee camp and return to their land.
According to sources who have worked closely with these refugees
through the years, Wadi Fuqin is the first Palestinian community where
refugees have been returned to their original land holdings.
An estimated 1.5 million Palestinian Arabs, displaced by the creation
of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948, have not been so lucky.
A Palestinian identity, however, has remained, and appears on the
verge of gaining recognized status at the United Nations.
Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO),
has promised to create a "democratic secular state" in Palestine, im
plying that an Arab majority would rule and the Jews would revert to
minority status, an arrangement that the Israelis say they would never
accept.
Even the Wadi Fugin people say that the 200 acres they farm now is
only half what they had before 1948.
Since the Iseaeli Military Governor gave them permission to return
two years ago, about half the villagers have so far come back. The
remainder are still in camps, saving their money and hoping to get
enough to rebuild some day.
"When one has a chance to return to his land," said Sudhien," he is
happy."
This year we have a lot of water and water is life."
Pausing in her labors, the stocky Arab woman squinted in the midday
sunlight and recounted what it was like living astride the troubled
Israeli-Jordanian border.
With a sweep of her arm, she pointed at a rocky hillside. "These
houses were all destroyed," she said, "We could not live here. When
we tried to return, they shot at us."
The Israelis claimed that Wadi Fuqin was a base for terrorists and
saboteurs and tried to clear it of its Arab population.
in 1956, the Israelis crossed the border into Jordan and blew up all
the houses in the village.
"Even though the Israelis shot at us and blew up our houses, we
returned and plowed our land. At night they would chase us out. We
would sleep behind the mountain and come back in the morning. One
night I stepped on a a rock in the darkness and twisted my ankle," said
Sudhien.
Later they moved to the refugee camp in Bethlehem and walked back
to the land in the daytime to farm it.
Religious issue clouds
real N. Ireland crisis
By GARRET FITZGERALD
Special to the Los Angeles Times
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[ Garret Fitzgerald, Foreign
Minister of Ireland was a journalist
in Dublin before entering
, Government. He is the author of a
book on the Northern Ireland
problem. ]
The bloody and protracted
conflict in Northern Ireland must
often appear meaningless and
inexplicable to outsiders. Its cause
is frequently put down either to
impersonal social and economic
forces over which nobody has
control, or to some particular
defect or perversity in the Irish
character.
opinion
In fact, it is a product of history
— of a history involving an in
complete conquest and set
tlement of much of Northeastern
Ireland three centuries and more
ago.
Because this settlement oc
curred after the Reformation —
unlike many earlier invasions —
conauered and conquerors, being
of differing religious persuasions,
did not generally intermingle and
intermarry. Unlike the Vikings, the
Normans and the Pre-reformation
English settlers, all of whom were
absorbed into the Native Irish
community, the 17th Century
colonists retained their separate
identity, while living for centuries
cheek-by-jowl with those whom
(Continued on Page 13)
Moslems in
all countries
celebrate fast
of Ramadan
By JIM HOAGLAND
[ C] 1974, The Washington Post-Outlook
"Allah desireth for you ease. He desireth not
hardship for you." — The Koran
CAIRO — The death of each day in this month
is the sweetest moment of the year for the Arab
world's 100 million Moslems. As the light
vanishes, the dusk thickening until a white thread
cannot be distinguished from a black one, Arab
cities relax and begin an ascent from the self
imposed denials of the day to the pleasures of the
night.
This is Ramadan, the ninth month of the
Islamic calender, when a half-billion Moslems
throughout the world are required every day to
observe day-long fasts and are permitted night
long festivities.
The Manichean division of day and night during
Ramadan continues to exercise great control over
Arab Moslems after 1,300 years of practice. Arab
leaders and thinkers who see the tradition as
being increasingly in conflict with their efforts to
modernize social and economic structures are
making little headway in altering the practice of
Ramadan.
Tunisia's Habib Bourguiba, who has prodded
his countrymen into a wide range of other
reforms, got nowhere when he pleaded with
them to "give priority to the economic struggle"*
by getting a full night's sleep, showing up at work
on time and working a full day during Ramadan.
Forbidden to smoke, eat, drink water or any
other liquid or even to inhale perfume (nothing
may enter the body during the day-long fast),
Moslem office workers, traffic cops and others
tend to become less attentive to their jobs and
more irritable as the day wears on. In countries
where Ramadan is strictly observed, getting
business done after noon or one p.m. turns from
an ordeal in normal times to a virtual impossibility
in Ramadan.
The same scene is played out across the Arab
World as sundown approaches. Here in the
usually crowded, clamorous streets around the
Husayn Mosque, men ask passersby with wat
ches for the time every five minutes or less.
The din of the nearby bazaar begins to fade as
darkness descends across the brown brick
minarets of Cairo and the madcap Cairene traffic
dwindles to a few solitary cars. As a single
cannon shot booms out, an erie silence engulfs
trie AraD worio s Dusiesi sireeicumers.
The cannon shot is the traditional signal for the
beginning of Iftar, the festive breaking of the fast
with a sumptuous, carefully planned meal at
home. Only the bazaar's shopkeepers, who
constitute one of Ramadan's strongest con
stituencies, continue to work, grabbing bites of
hommos and shishkebab behind the counter.
Shopping for presents for the family is as
important at Ramadan in the Moslem world as it
is at Christmas in the West. Merchants hold back
scarce goods until Ramadan and then jack up
prices during this holiday season.
One study done in Algeria shows the minimum
expenditure for food and special goods during
Ramadan for a family there is $150, an enormous
sum for a developing country. Despite the day
long fast, consumption actually rises in many
Arab countries during Ramadan.
Egypt experienced the economic pressures
Ramadan creates in a dramatic form this year.
The first days of Ramadan coincided with the
opening of school, when parents have to buy new
clothing and school supplies. Workers in the
industrial suburb of Helwan and elsewhere,
squeezed by these competing demands and
inflation, staged demonstrations until the
government agreed to advances on wages.
After dinner, Arab Moslems stroll the brightly lit
streets, which are strung with garlands of light
bulbs painted red, yellow and blue, and sample
the season's special sweets. In Damascus, Killaj
(a cake stuffed with cream) and apricots flattened
out in sheets (called ''moon of religion") are
special favorites. In the gaily decorated streets of
Tunis, large donuts dipped in hot honey satiate
the sweet tooth.
Visiting friends, attending special music halls
and fairs set up in the bazaars, and taking brief
naps fill in the hours until a pre-dawn breakfast
sets the stage for another nerve-wracking day.
Ramadan is taking on some modern touches.
More people learn the hour of sunset from
transistor radios now than from the cannon shot,
and the religious men who would walk through
neighborhoods awakening each family by name
for the predawn meal are being displaced by
alarm clocks.
But the critics of Ramadan, who range from
Arab political scientists to Western bankers
operating here, strongly maintain that Ramadan
has not kept pace with the change of this region
from an agricultural society, whose life was
determined by the sun, to one that has developed
aspirations to become one of the world s
economic superpowers.
The Arab mainstream seems to dispute that
there is any loss of productivity, however, and
says that Ramadan's spiritual values outweigh all
other considerations. The fast "is meant to bring
back to man his forgotten humanity," says
made martyrdom and self-reliance chief
characteristics of that religion. Smith and others
assert that the differing traits remain, even as the
relative situations change.
In somewhat of a contrast to Christianity today,
observance of Ramadan varies from country to
country and even from year to year for the same
individuals more than it does across age lines.
Here in Egypt, the existence of a 10 to 14 per
cent Christian minority in a population of 36
million makes for a relaxed public mood. Many
restaurants stay open for lunch. The sight of a
man sipping a beer in a cafe causes no surprise
and secretaries can have a glass of tea at their
desks.
Cynics say Egyptian Christians have the best of
both worlds. They do not fast but take advantage
of the shortened workdays and four-day holiday
that follows Ramadan on Oct. 17.
In Tripoli, the capital of neighboring and more
puritanical Libya, a foreigner runs the risk of an
angry or envious slap by smoking in the street
Graphic by Karen Peoples
Mohammed Ali El Zeibi, a Lebanese Professor of
Philosophy.
Observing Ramadan from the age of 14 is one
of the five essential rites for a Moslem. The others
are giving alms, making a pilgrimage to Mecca,
saying prayers daily and making the profession of
faith in Mohammed as the Prophet of God.
Ramadan — the month of heat — was for
Mohammed the period of meditation in the Saudi
Arabian desert. It was during this month that the
prophet first saw the Angel Gabriel, who awoke
him with the command, "Read!" and received the
message of god in the form of the Koran.
The body is considered a holy vessel not to be
penetrated by a foreign substance during the day.
All food, liquids and sexual intercourse are ruled
out as long as there is light. The ill are excused
from the fast, as are travelers and, as the Israelis
discovered last October, soldiers engaged in war.
The easy dualism of sacrifice and indulgence
that Ramadan epitomizes is an integral part of
Islam, some historians believe. Wilfred Cantwell
Smith notes that Islam was founded in the
success of sweeping conquests and conversions
that spread the faith from Cordoba to the Punjab.
Islam is built on communal experience and
reward, while the persecution of early Christianity
during Ramadan "It is an insult to me as a person
and to my religion," an elevator operator in a
Tripoli hotel expalined politely during Ramadan
last year when he asked a visitor to extinguish a
cigarette
Despite the population's refusal to follow
Bourguiba's lead, it is not uncommon in Tunis to
see Moslems smoking or eating during the day.
Bourguiba, who failed to convince his people that
the "battle against underdevelopment is a new
form of the sacred war" that justified dispensing
with the traditional observance of Ramadan, still
complains privately about the hypocrisy of
students and others.
In a few countries, some Moslems fast one year
and skip the next. A secretary at Cairo's A/ Ahram
newspaper was stunned to walk into an editor's
office in midmorning on the first day of Ramadan
and find her boss munching on a sandwich.
"Shame!" she said. "Have a cheese sandwich,"
he replied "You can make up for it next year."
But for those who observe, Ramadan appears
to fashion a strong communal bond as entire
cities and villages fast together. While economic
and social disparities frequently thwart Islam's
aim of equality and brotherhood for all men,
Ramadan serves as a strong reminder of the aim.
U.S. media's glorification of Ford unwarranted
By DAVID SHAW
[ C] 1974, The Los Angeles Times
In the immediate aftermath of former President Richard Nixon's
resignation, much of the American press — blinded largely by its
hostility toward Nixon — did a generally inadequate and sometimes
irresponsible job of covering the Ford Administration.
An analysis of leading newspapers, news magazines and wire ser
vices — along with several White House press briefings and almost
three dozen interviews — makes clear a number of significant
deficiencies in press coverage and attitudes during the first 50 days of
Ford's presidency. The most important of those include:
— In the month between Ford's accession and his pardon of Nixon,
the press was too gentle and uncritical in its treatment of the new
President, frequently inputing to him many virtues that, in the words of
Peter Lisagore, White House correspondent for the Chicago Daily
News, "he didn't possess, we knew he didn't possess and he didn[t
even claim to possess."
— Press reaction to the pardon of Nixon was, in most cases, harsh,
subjective and speculative, at times giving the impression that the act
was, above all, a personal affront to (and a betrayal of) the press itself.
— Given the critical nature of other domestic and foreign problems,
the press has often been too preoccupied with Nixon’s mental and
emotional health and, to a lesser extent, his status as a former
president. In some aspects of that preoccupation, the press ran the risk
of allowing itself to be used by Nixon friends and relatives determined
to create considerable sympathy for the former President, seemingly to
help condition public opinion to accept the pardon from Ford.
— The widespread use of stories from unnamed sources — a practice
long accepted in Washington (and, of necessity, intensified during the
Watergate period) — has, on occasion, resulted in the publication of
highly speculative stories of dubious origin and creditility.
Although those deficiencies can be documented, that documentation
should not be construed as an accusation that the press did nothing
right in its early Ford-Nixon coverage.
In the last week or 10 days, in fact, coverage has improved im
measurably, and even before that, there were some instances of sound
newspaper coverage.
The New York Times, for example, published a story Aug. 19 on
President Ford's friendship with "several of Washington's most
powerful lobbyists."
The Washington Post, on five consecutive days in late Sept.,
published an analysis of voter attitudes, including reaction to the
pardon, all across America.
Time, in its Sept. 23 issue, published an insightful and well balanced
essay on Ford's pardon decision seen in terms of "the theology of
forgiveness."
And most leading news organs decided to ignore the most lurid and
unsubstantiated rumors about Nixon's emotional condition (that he had
tried to commit suicide; that secret service men had pulled him, un
conscious, from the Pacific) and about the pardon (that Mrs. Nixon and
their daughter Julie Eisenhower had flown to Washington to personally
persuade Ford to act).
But good journalism was the exception, not the rule, during the first
50 days of the Ford Administration.
President Ford's month-long honeymoon with the press was not
unprecedented, of course. It is customary for an incoming President to
enjoy a brief period of bliss with the press. Congress and the public
alike.
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In fact, a strong case could be made that Ford's honeymoon was
neither as extravagant as John Kennedy's nor as intense as Lyndon
Johnson's — nor as long as Nixon's when he was first elected in 1968.
But Ford took office in the midst of one of the worst peacetime
economic slumps in American history — a time for hard questions.
Of greater significance, none of Ford's immediate predecessors
moved into the White House in the wake of a pervasive scandal that
should, of itself, have taught the press anew to be wary of accepting
uncritically any political leader.
But extravagant praise of President Ford came forth nonetheless.
There is, of courrse, a tradition of what Helen Thomas, White House
correspondent for United Press International, calls "wiping the slate
clean, not mentioning what a new President has done or said before,
giving him a chance to grow in office."
Moreover, it is understandable that after the deviousness and
hostility of the Nixon years, the press — especially in Washington —
would welcome the comparative openness and genuine friendliness of
the Ford White House. _
analysis
Xy
However, much of the press lost sight of its role as public sentinel.
The New York Times published a resignation day editorial that called
attention to the new President's "dreary blandness" and "stolid
conservatism," and warned that he was "a predictable, fierce, but
amiable...partisan...(who) has gained no reputation for vision,
imagination, creativity or compassion."
But in ensuing days, the New York Times joined the Ford band
wagon, praising his "straightforwardness...and humility," his
"deserved reputation for decency, integrity and honesty," his
"receptivity to new ideas" and his "frank, open manner."
The Los Angeles Times spoke of Ford's "honesty, candor, devotion
to duty, a plain sense of right and wrong," and praised his "ready
assumption of the powers of the Presidency and his apparent
willingness, even eagerness, to use them" — neglecting to warn that it
* was precisely Nixon's "eagerness" to use the powers of the Presidency
that led to Watergate.
Such editorial praise was but one manifestation of the press' initially
uncritical view of President Ford.
Another was what came to be known as "the English muffin theory
of history," to use the words of columnist George Will. In essence, that
theory held that any President who toasted his own English muffins for
breakfast must be a different — and better — breed of politician than
we were accustomed to.
The press' eagerness to ennoble Ford's homey touches can be
demonstrated by the widespread use of a photograph showing
President Ford toasting his own English muffin three weeks after the
new first family had moved into the White House.
The Denver Post, New York Daily News and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
all ran the picture on page one. The Los Angeles Times, Cleveland
Plain-Dealer, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post (two pictures) and,
San Francisco Chronicle (three pictures) — among many, many others
— gave the pictures prominent display inside.
There was only one trouble with all this: President Ford had prepared
his own breakfast in his Virginia home during his first few days as
President, but once Ford was in the White House, the servants took
over.
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